


Our Demons (Destiel Drabble)

by slavetosociety



Series: Supernatural Drabbles [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angels, Demons, Destiel - Freeform, Drabble, Heaven, Hell, M/M, Purgatory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 01:38:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11544741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slavetosociety/pseuds/slavetosociety
Summary: Set in a human AU, Dean Winchester and his brother Sam were raised anything far from the definition of normal. With a father half-drunk out of his mind, Dean was both a mother and a father to his younger brother, combating against the demon that lurked around every corner, the demon that was his father.Castiel Novak got the short end of the stick, growing up in the streets of Lawrence, Kansas with twelve brothers, the spitting image of a dysfunctional family. Abandoned ever since they could remember, he and his brothers fight each night to put food on the table.In a world that seems to be pitted against them, Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak meet under unlikely circumstances and begin to fight for a future that seems anything but likely.





	Our Demons (Destiel Drabble)

11:32 p.m

"Dad."

Dean Winchester was hunched over the drunken form of his father, nudging John ever-so-slightly, pleading his father to wake up. He grunted once and shifted away from Dean, lost in whatever coma-induced state the alcohol had left him in. Dean sighed and turned away from his father, facing a wide-eyed Sam who was hunched in a corner. "I'm hungry," Sam mumbled, surveying the run-down house that John had insisted they squatted in.

"I know Sammy," Dean whispered and ruffled his younger brother's hair playfully, a tired smile on his face. He walked into the run-down kitchen, rummaging through the half-rotten food they had managed to steal from the gas station a mile down the road. Dean didn't react to the foul odor, just one of the many stenches he had learned to harden himself to over the years.

"Breakfast," Dean tossed a torn pack of M&M's at Sam, sitting down on the kitchen table, watching his little brother eat. Sam paused once, his eyes flickering up to meet Dean's.

"Aren't you hungry?" Sam asked, holding out a handful of the food in offering to his brother.

"Nah, you know me, I'm never hungry," Dean laughed it off, his eyes wandering to the molded bag that lay in front of him. The three-day old hamburger was beginning to look tempting.

John's eyes suddenly flickered open and with a grunt, he pulled himself up from the chair, knocking down various beer bottles in the process. His blood-shot eyes shot across the room, muttering to himself over a variety of topics such as demons and angels. "We're getting close," he mumbled, not bothering to notice if Sam or Dean were paying attention. "We're closing in on the thing that killed Mary."

Sam looked up at Dean, his mouth slightly hanging open in mid-chew. The truth was, there was no yellow-eyed demon or whatever fantasy John had cooked up inside his mind. It had been one of those nights, the kind of night where John came home from a bar half out of his mind, ready to beat the living crap out of anyone who was idiotic to go within a five foot radius of him. It was that night, the brutal night of November 2nd, did John Winchester light the house on fire, leaving with only his two sons, trapping Mary inside.

"Yeah you're right," Dean replied, tossing his father the daily newspaper. It hit John on his forearm, leaving behind a small scratch. Dean immediately took a step backwards, his eyes wide. John's eye sight flickered from the scratch to his son, who was attempting to put as much distance between himself and John. 

In one step, John transversed the distance and lifted Dean by the collar of his shirt. His right hand balled into a fist and pulled back as if to strike. The resolve suddenly seemed to drain from John and he released Dean, slumping back into his chair. "What's the point?" he scoffed, eyeing Sam and then Dean. "You're not worth it."

Dean felt bile in his mouth as Sam took a step towards John. "Dad," he whispered softly. "We're almost out of food." 

John was out of his seat again and in a sudden motion, he slapped Sam across the face. With a startled cry he ran towards Dean, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "Ungrateful little brat," John growled, not bothering to pursue his son. "Do you realize how ungrateful the two of you are? How badly some kids have it?" He gestured out the window, across the street, where a family of brothers were rooting through the trash. "At least you have your old man."

 

"Gabriel, look what I found!" Castiel Novak emerged from the trash can in which he had been rummaging through, holding up a half-eaten cheeseburger, a look of triumph adorning his face. His matted dark brown hair was covered in various items of trash, but none of the other children paid any attention to that. They too, like Castiel, were covered in filth. 

Gabriel ruffled his brother's hair playfully. There were twelve of them in total, all siblings abandoned by their father: Castiel, Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer, Raphael, Samandriel, Naomi, Anna, Uriel, Hestor, Ezekiel, and Zachariah. They were quite literally one big happy dysfunctional family. "Good job," he beamed and proceeded to divide the food into twelve halves, in which each brother took happily. Castiel wolfed down his portion, relishing the feeling of food.

Castiel could never truly comprehend the understanding of how people could throw away food that he and his siblings would accept in a heartbeat. There were times when they often found whole meals, the rare instances when they went to bed with full stomachs. But a part of him longed for the life in which they were spoiled enough to throw away food, not rummaging through the trash cans to find their next meal. 

The twelve of them piled together, each given only a thin sheet to act as their source of warmth. The moon was just beginning to climb across the sky and with a deep longing, Castiel closed his eyes and began to pray. It was something that his siblings laughed at him for, his childish attempts to pray to the man upstairs to let their father come home, to save them from this life that they had been thrown into. 

"I don't care if my father left us, I know that he had a reason," Castiel whispered to himself, the snores of his siblings drowning out his words. Gabriel was the only one awake, listening quietly to his brother's prayer. "I know that Father still loves us, and that he'll come home to us. Please, please let him take us home. Amen." 

And on those words Castiel drifted off to sleep, the stars the last thing he saw before he drifted into unconsciousness.

 

4:15 a.m

 

"C'mon Sammy, we're leaving," Dean hissed, shaking his younger brother awake. John had collapsed onto the worn sofa, a beer clutched loosely in his hand. He would stir occasionally, his mind plagued with fantasies of demons and fire. Sam Winchester slowly awoke before immediately clutching Dean's wrist, a defensive mechanism he had undertaken after spending so many years with John Winchester. 

"What?" he groaned, realizing that his father was still asleep. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't have time for this!" Dean retorted, his tone raising. He froze and cast another look at John, who was still passed out on the couch. "We have to leave. Now."

"But what about our stuff?" Sam asked with all the child-like innocence that had yet to be extinguished by John Winchester.

"We don't have anything," Dean replied and began to drag his brother across the room, heading towards the front door. 

"Where so you think you're going?" Dean froze instantly, any hopes of a future draining as John Winchester arose from his position, the beer bottle forgotten. He lumbered over the two siblings, his blood-shot eyes looking so much more demonic in the dim candlelight. 

"S-Sammy was h-hungry s-so I was j-just going to get h-him something to eat..." Dean whimpered, his eyes flickering to John's fingers which had already begun to flex anxiously, a tell-tale sign of the abuse to come. "It's n-nothing, r-really. W-We can wait until m-morning, right Sam?" Dean looked down at his younger brother, pleading from him to agree.

The blood still remained on Sam's face from the last time John had struck him as Sam hurriedly nodded, the worry and fear still evident on his face. John paused for a moment, swaying as if in deep thought. Though it was probably just from all the alcohol in actuality.

"Would Mary be proud of where we are now?" John's lip curled up in a sneer as he bent down to examine Dean. "Her death, her sacrifice, and how would she feel knowing that her sons had become a bunch of ungrateful liars?"

Dean was shaking now, years of pent up rage and hatred building up inside of him. With all the strength he could muster, he punched John once in the face, than twice, in a rapid succession. John collapsed to the floor, Dean continuing to hammer away. He found himself being pulled away from his father by Sam. "C'mon, let's go!" Sam cried and together, the two of them left the house, left behind John Winchester, racing away from their past and into the future unknown.

 

6:03 a.m

 

Castiel Novak awoke suddenly, the sounds of rustling trash registering in his mind. His thoughts immediately wandered to a potential wild animal. He and his siblings had learned the hard way that wild animals were dangerous. His youngest brother - Ezekiel - had been bitten by a raccoon and they could only watch helplessly as he deteriorated before their eyes.

He contemplated for a moment of waking up Michael, the oldest of the them all. A tuft of brown hair arose from the dumpster and Castiel froze, relaxing slightly at the revelation that it wasn't a wild animal. The moment was over too soon, he realized, that if the rest of his family were to discover them, they would not live long to tell the tale. A sort of bond had coexisted amongst him and his siblings, a bond that did not welcome outsiders.

Carefully, he skirted around the sleeping forms of his siblings and peered over the dumpster. A boy - no older than sixteen - was rooting through the trash, grumbling angrily at discovering nothing edible. He held up the rotten carcass of an apple, as if to contemplate on whether or not it was edible, before shoving it into his pocket. 

"H-Hello," Castiel whispered and the boy immediately retaliated, whipping around to face whomever dared to threaten him. Castiel took a step backwards and almost tripped on an empty can, startled by the feral look engraved into the boy's eyes. 

"Who the hell are you?" the boy asked, leaning closer to him. His hand wandered to a pocket inside his torn jacket and Castiel no doubtfully knew that there was a weapon of the sorts hidden there. 

"I'm Castiel," he whispered and then gestured to his sleeping siblings. "Keep it down. The rest of us, they're not used to... outsiders."

The boy nodded once, casting a wavering glance at the others. His gaze then wandered to Castiel, as if to decide whether or not he should shake his hand or kill him. "I'm Dean," he said at last, shaking Castiel's hand. The tension between the two immediately eased and Castiel gratefully helped Dean out of the dumpster. 

"You should probably leave," Castiel murmured. "When my siblings wake up, they won't take your presence here lightly."

"We're just drifting through," Dean explained and then immediately cursed to himself. 

"We're?" Castiel cocked his head to one side. "Are there more of you?" He felt his blood run cold at the thought of his brothers and sisters having to combat another group. They had done it before, especially during times like these when food was scarce. 

"Just me and my brother." This didn't ease his worries, however. Two extra mouths looking for food meant that two of his own work go to bed hungry. There was a small pile of food, gathered in the middle of the sleeping bodies that surrounded it. Castiel gently skirted past his siblings and dug out two decent pieces of food. He returned to Dean, holding them out. "These should do. It's the rations I get for a day, so no one else will even notice or care that they're gone."

"I can't do this," Dean protested and attempted to hand the food back to Castiel. He registered as the type of person that did not take kindly to being in the debt of others. 

"Take it," Castiel ordered, his voice becoming much more stern. Gabriel was beginning to awaken, and the others would surely follow. Dean noticed this, awkwardly hugged Castiel before disappearing. 

And as the first of his brothers woke up, Castiel couldn't help but wonder why a part of him wished Dean would have stayed.

 

9:45 a.m 

"Sammy, I got you food," Dean whispered, nudging his little brother awake. Sam groaned once before happily eating away with the hamburger. Dean took a bite into the food of his own, his thoughts drifting back to Castiel. The kid would no doubt go to bed hungry today, and might even get a beating or two from his siblings for taking food without permission. Kindness in strangers was something that Dean didn't understand. To him, everything was a dog-eat-dog world.

Sam happily took a bite into the hamburger. For the first time in their lives, they were truly by themselves. The cops had arrived at the abandoned house on a tip of drug and illegal firearm possession - both of which were true - and John was arrested on sight, a suspect for a local murder case - which again, was true.

"What are we going to do now?" Sam was staring at Dean, his eyes wide and unblinking, sort of like the last moments of a deer before it got mowed down by a car.

"We," Dean hesitated for a moment. What were they going to do? It wasn't exactly like Lawrence, Kansas had the best child services around. Their methods usually involved foster care, and that meant being split up from Sam, an option he wouldn't even consider. "We are going to fend for ourselves now."

The situation at least, was better without John in the picture. At least they had food in their stomachs when they went to bed, even if it was slightly passed the expiration date. Dean reached behind him to pull out a hamburger, one he had found on the ground on his way back from where Castiel and his physcotic siblings were squatting. He had decided on giving it to Castiel, it was the least he could do.

"Stay here," Dean instructed, Sam nodding once, already making himself comfortable in the alleyway they had taken refuge in. "I have to run this down to a... friend of mine."

 

12:36 p.m

 

"You think this is funny?"

Michael's face was directly in front of Castiel's, all signs of anger and betrayal evident in his features. "You're worthless, you know that? You can barely manage to produce your share of the food, and you suddenly expect us to believe that some of the food magically disappeared last night? You know what you are? You're a liar."

"C'mon." It was Gabriel's turn to chime in now. "The kid was hungry, so he had a little extra. I'm sure Cas will make it up, right?" Castiel nodded once, shaking.

"We're all hungry," Michael snarled and kneed Castiel in the ribs. He let out a startled cry and collapsed to the cement floor. "What if everyone decided to take a little extra, huh? Then we'd all go hungry. No..." Michael shook his head, formulating a plan. "You need to be taught a lesson. Lucifer..." He beckoned his brother to bring him a knife. 

The others were beginning to crowd around now, watching wide-eyed. Gabriel said nothing, his face grim. "I think..." Michael trailed the blade against Castiel's forearm. "I think we're going to go nice and slow, huh? Maybe we'll just cut the food from you..."

"Hey!" 

The twelve of them froze, the harsh tone ringing across the alleyway. Michael whirled around to face the onlooker, releasing Castiel whom was immediately comforted by Gabriel. Dean Winchester stood from afar, a darkened look on his face. 

"You have no right to be here," Michael chuckled and motioned for Raphael and Lucifer to join him. Gabriel, after some hesitation, joined in. The four - it seemed - were the unofficial leaders of the group. Dean took this as an invitation to join in and walked up to Michael, punching him once.

Michael wiped the blood from his face and he began his assault on Dean, attempting to knock him unconscious. Lucifer and Raphael joined in, Gabriel watching from a distance. There was a sickened look on his face. Dean seemed to have experience in hand-to-hand combat and avoided the various punches with ease. He was on the defense most of the time, the offense rarely in his favor. During the fight he managed to grab Castiel and together, the two of them went sprinting down the alleyway.

 

5:17 p.m

 

"Castiel, this is Sam. Sam, meet Castiel," Dean introduced Castiel to Sam. His little brother watched the two of them wide-eyed before a knowing smirk spread across his face.

"Is this your new boyfriend?" Sam giggled hysterically and doubled over in a fit of laughter. Despite the intensity of the situation they were in, Dean ducked in an attempt to conceal his face from view. Castiel remained unmoved by this situation, not entirely the best at understanding social exchanges such as these. What was the embarrassment in being someone's significant other?

The three of them gathered around a small fire, pressed against one another for warmth. It was situations like these where strangers didn't matter. For them, seconds were hours, hours days, years, even. A bond formed between the three of them, more profound it seemed between Dean and Castiel. They had been liberated, the same day, from almost hell itself.

There were signs, signs of the bond that had begun to form between Dean and Castiel, the bond in which would last beyond this day, beyond this life time. Sam caught on to this, noticing the looks Dean and Castiel would exchange when they thought the other wasn't looking, the way they functioned as if they were two parts of a well-oiled machine. 

And for the first time, the two Winchesters and the Novak got a taste of what they felt like was truly and utmost family.

And for Dean and Castiel, a little more.

A new beginning.


End file.
